Forever Us

“Thanks, Lou,” Co

“No problem.” He smiled. “Take care of that head, Ellery. I’m asking for a postponement and this could all be over within a week.”

A feeling of relief flowed through me when I heard Lou say that. Peyton took Julia from her swing and walked over to me. “It’s almost over, sweetie. Henry and I are going to leave. He has to be at the hospital in a few hours. Go take a pain pill, down a couple shots of that shit you like, and you’ll sleep great.”

I smiled at her and took the baby as we said our goodbyes. Co

As I started the bath, I poured a capful of bubbles under the stream of the hot water. Closing the bathroom door, I undressed, twisted up my hair, and lay back in the tub. If there was one person I needed the most right now, it was my mom. Tears started to fall down my face as the bullshit of the day settled inside me. I brought my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around my legs as I sobbed into them.

“Ellery,” I heard Co

He climbed into the bathtub, behind me, fully dressed, and wrapped his arms around me.

“I’m so sorry, baby,” he began to cry. “I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through today. I just wanted to shield you from the scariness of the world. I wanted to protect you, Ellery. I need you to try and understand why I did what I did and why I behaved the way that I did. I love you so damn much.”

Bringing my arms to his, he loosened his grip around me and I turned around to face him. He tilted his head as he stared at me and tried to wipe away the mascara stains from under my eyes. Bringing my hand up to his face, I gently wiped away each tear that fell from his eyes.

“Look at you; your clothes are soaking wet.” I smiled softly.

“It doesn’t matter as long as I’m holding you.” He smiled as his hand softly swept across my cheek.

“Do you forgive me?” I asked.

“Of course I forgive you. Do you forgive me?”

“Yes, I love you way too much not to.”

I sat down at my easel to start my third painting. A peaceful feeling was restored throughout my body now that Ashlyn had been found guilty and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison with no possibility of parole. Co

“I’m giving you the afternoon off because I’m taking Julia to Central Park.”

“Oh goody, can I come?” Mason asked as he handed me the baby.

I felt bad telling him no, but I wanted to spend some time alone with my daughter.

“Aw, Mason. I’m sorry, but I really just want to spend some time alone with Julia. Considering all the shit that went on, I feel like a horrible mom that I haven’t spent as much time with her as I should.”

“I understand, Mama.” He smiled as he kissed me on the cheek.

“I do need you to do me a favor, though. I need you to go to the spa for me,” I said as I grabbed my purse and pulled out my wallet.

“What do you need from the spa?” he asked.

“I need you to get the works done: massage, manicure, and facial.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes,” I said as I handed him some money. “Consider this a perk because you have done so much for Co

“Are you kidding? It’s awesome. Thank you, doll face!” he said excitedly as he kissed me and headed towards the elevator.

As I smiled and kissed Julia on the nose, I desperately wished that Co

The flowers in the Conservatory Garden were as beautiful as always. As I was pushing Julia, I looked ahead and noticed there was no one in my favorite spot. When I reached it, I spread out the blanket on the grass, kicked off my shoes, and took Julia from her stroller.

“This is my favorite place, Julia. I hope that it’ll be yours too someday.”

I laid her down on the blanket and took off her socks. She started kicking and moving her arms around while making the cutest cooing sounds. I opened up my drawing pad and began drawing the picture I had envisioned for my painting. Looking over at Julia, I started to sketch a field of flowers. A few moments later, I heard my phone ring. As I pulled it from my bag, I smiled when I saw it was Co

“Look; it’s your daddy,” I said as I showed Julia the phone. “Hello,” I answered.

“Hey, baby, I was thinking we could have lunch together.”

“That sounds nice. What time?”

“How about now? Turn around,” he said.

I turned around and watched as Co

“How did you know I was here?”

Before sitting down on the blanket, he kicked off his shoes and took off his socks. “I talked to Mason. I tried to call you earlier and it went straight to voicemail, so I called him and asked him to put you on the phone, and he told that me you and Julia were here,” he said as he sat down and kissed me.

“I thought you had back-to-back meetings and a conference call today?”

Co

“I’m so happy you’re here with us.” I smiled as I stroked his cheek. “What’s in the bag?”

“Open it and find out.”

I picked up the bag and looked inside. “Aw, you brought us hot dogs.”

“I know how much you love them here.” He smiled.

As I took the hot dogs from the bag, Co

“There’s something I need to discuss with you,” he said.

“Okay. What’s up?”

“I don’t want you to be mad that I didn’t discuss this with you first because it just sort of happened suddenly.”

As I gave him a worried look, he smiled and cupped my chin in his hand. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad.”

I let out a sigh of relief as he began to tell me what he did. “I’ve invested in Vi

“What?” I asked in confusion.

“His partner pulled out at the last minute and left him with a half-finished gallery and not enough funds to complete it and get it ready for the opening. He called me and asked if I would be interested in investing in the gallery and being his partner. I had my business attorney draw up the legal papers and he’s coming to the office tomorrow to sign them.”

As I sat there and stared at him, I needed to tell him something that I’d been thinking about for a while.

“Can I be totally honest with you about something?”

“Of course, baby. What is it?”

“I thought you already owned the art gallery and that you didn’t want to tell me.”